


Success is Sweet

by DarlingEmmaLou



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Bashing, Alya Salt, Bustier salt, Caline Bustier Bashing, F/F, Jagged's sort of in this?, Lawsuits, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila salt, M/M, ml salt, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25215901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingEmmaLou/pseuds/DarlingEmmaLou
Summary: Lila may still be out for Marinette's guts. But Marinette has a plan, friends to help her, and a good lawyer.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 67
Kudos: 957
Collections: the power of love always so strong





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfic I've written, I tried really (not really) hard.
> 
> Maybe I'll write a second chapter but no promises.
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome, enjoy!

Marinette woke up to Tikki shouting in her ear. “I’m up!” she yelled.  
“Thank creation! I thought you’d never wake up! There’s an Akuma!”  
Marinette grunted at Tikki and rolled of bed transforming as she went to open the hatch to her balcony. Akumas had been more frequent as of late and she was getting close to cussing Hawkmoth out from the top of the Eiffel Tower for making her lose more sleep.

Four hours later Marinette was running to school. After she got back from the Akuma she had crashed in bed until her Maman had yelled through her trapdoor for her to get ready for school. As much as she wanted to fall asleep at her desk she knew that would be too good of an opportunity for Lila to pass up sabotaging her in some way. Since Lila had arrived and declared them enemies Marinette’s life had gotten harder as she had to deal with whatever Lila through at her with all of her other responsibilities on top of that.

Luckily she had some great friends. Chloe handed her a cup of coffee as she sat down in her seat, they had both been ‘exiled’ to the back of the classroom because they were “bullies” and “super mean to Lila, you’ve changed Mari.” Luckily, however, they had a spy:

Group Chat:  
Bastard Chat: Lila’s lied about like 4 celebrities already  
Queen Bitch: eww  
Bastard Chat: 1 is dead  
Lady Slytherin: ughhhh  
Lady Slytherin: stay quiet. don’t blow this. remember the plan  
Musical Snake: poor baby  
Bastard Chat: *sad face emoji*  
Dragon Bitch: Pitiful.  
Bastard Chat: *shocked face emoji*

Marinette smothered a laugh as she looked to Chloe who was trying not to smile. After an accidental reveal, lots of talks about feelings, and a few team upgrades, it had finally come to this. A group of people who knew each other’s secret identities, which made fighting Akumas so much easier, and made planning the downfall of a liar even more so.

Chloe, Kagami, and Marinette were using their contacts and influence to get in touch with almost everyone Lila had lied about. It was hard at first when only Chloe and Kagami were doing it, but once they convinced Marinette it was semi-moral to use your celebrity contacts for a bitch take-down she was able to get in contact with more people then they knew she knew. Apparently MDC Designs was more popular than anyone thought.

Luka had talked to Jagged about it, he had been working with him ever since Lila convinced the rest of Kitty Section he was too old to be a part of their band and people wouldn’t work with them. Jagged had been hesitant at first, Lila wasn’t the first fan to lie about him for clout after all, but after explaining what she was doing to his “favorite niece” he was on board.

Adrien had been the spy, he couldn’t do anything to out of line or Lila would report it to his father, but he was able to listen to almost everything she told people and record it since she almost always had her claws in his arm and was next to his side.

It had been a long couple of months, but everything was finally coming together.

“Mlle Rossi? We need to speak to you outside the classroom.” There was Mr Damocles with Marinette, and many of her clients, lawyer.  
“Of course Mr Damocles,” came the sickly sweet voice of Lila as she got up from her seat next to Alya to leave. “I hope this isn’t bout those things Marinette said to me in the bathroom yesterday, I’d hate for her to get in trouble,” she ‘whispered’ to Alya.  
“Girl, you’re too nice. Marinette needs to be put down a peg.” Alya glared at Marinette, she had been Lila’s number one supporter helping to keep the rest of the class supporting Lila. If the reporter believed it, why shouldn’t they?

Most of the conversation outside was to quiet to hear, until a loud “WHAT” was heard. Mlle Bustier opened the door to help intervene so everyone heard what happened next.

“You can’t sue me!” Lila all but screamed.  
“Mlle Rossi as you have lied about a number of my clients, I’m afraid we can.”  
“I-I I have diplomatic immunity!”  
“According to my papers here, it was waved by Italy per one of the ambassadors request”  
“Maybe we should take this to my office, surely there is something you can do? Mlle Rossi has a rare condition that forces her to lie, it was out of her control.” The simpering voice of Mr Damocles was heard.  
“Not according to my papers.” stated the lawyer, “Have you tried calling Mme Rossi to see what she had to say about this, condition?”  
“My mother is very busy as an ambassador, I wouldn’t want to bother her.”  
“As Mlle Rossi said, her mother is much to busy.”  
“Hmm, well I need you to sign this paper stating you understand what you are being given and will appear in court in a month’s time or we will have to take more, drastic, measures.”

At this point, the class snapped out of the daze they had been in from the conversation outside. Alya spoke up first coming to the door and shouting at the lawyer, “You can’t sue Lila! She didn’t do anything!”  
The lawyer merely looked at her before handing Alya a stack of papers as well. “I was going to talk to you individually, but I suppose this will do. Sign here, please.” She pointed to a paper on top of the stack.

As Lila went through her own she became increasingly pale, “How- how did you get my mother’s signature!”  
“She was the one who asked for the immunity to waived, I thought that would be obvious.” The lawyer stared at Lila before turning to Marinette and winking.

Marinette had been the one to hire her, with the help of Jagged and Penny. Almost all of her clients who had been lied about agreed to use her lawyer, who had never lost a case, against Lila. While Adrien couldn’t publicly help he was planning to bring up accusations of sexual assault through Marinette and her lawyer. Luka had been the one to help him through understanding that people needed consent to touch you and that it’s okay to say no.

Alya glared at Marinette accusingly, “You did this! You lying minx! You couldn’t help knowing that Lila is better than you so did...THIS!” Clearly words failed her in anger.  
“Yes,” Marinette cooley replied, “But none of this is fake, did you seriously think saving Jagged’s cat was something that actually happened? Even after I, someone you know knows Jagged, denounced it?” Marinette shook her head and hid a smile behind her hand.  
“I thought reporters always checked their facts?” Chloe mocked, not even bothering to hide her smirk.

As Adrien moved to sit next to Chloe and Marinette, Nino’s voice stopped him. “Bro, did you know about this?”  
“Of course,” Adrien replied, continuing to walk away. “Like Nettie said, it’s pretty obvious. Half the people she talked about were dead.”

That seemed to lower the mood for the class as they thought back to all of the obvious lies.

“Marinette seriously,” Bustier’s annoyed tone cut through the class’ sad musings, “Is this really necessary? What did we say about all of the Marinettes in the world?”  
“Mlle Bustier while my client, Mlle Dupain-Cheng, does not want to sue you for gaslighting, I have no issue. Continue this and her parents and I will override her decision.”  
Mlle Bustier looked taken back by the lawyer’s statement, but before she could comment Chloe butted in.  
“We’re still going to the school board though, Daddy’s backing us. Plus Nettie’s Aunt who is on the school board, so.” Chloe looked at her watch before standing up and gathering her things, “Any way we’re going to lunch, so see you all later!” Marinette and Adrien followed her out of the room.

“Adrien how could you let this happen!” Lila whined as Adrien walked out.  
He spared a glance at her before continuing, “You did this to yourself Lila, I told you we could all be friends without you lying, but you wouldn’t listen. Now deal with the consequences.” He joined hands with Luka who had been standing with Kagami outside of the classroom waiting for the three and watching the show.  
“That was hot,” the class heard Adrien’s laughter as they walked out of the school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One person asked me to continue this and my bar is set extremely low so here we are.
> 
> This chapter is like an epilogue, I think?
> 
> It's kinda short, but enjoy! 💜

Half an hour later showed the gang at the Le Grand Paris for lunch. As they were enjoying each other's company, the fallout began.

The words, “Alya deleted Lila’s videos,” cut through the relaxing atmosphere.  
“Already? That’s fast. I thought she’d hold out until her parents forced her,” Adrien commented.  
Cloe scoffed, “Couldn’t handle seeing how much she messed up I’m sure. She’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Kagami patted her hand and returned to her food without commenting.

Adrien’s phone began to ring. He looked shocked as he saw the screen, “It’s Father.” Usually, if Gabriel Agreste had something he wanted to tell his son, he went through Nathalie instead of talking to Adrien himself. It was extremely rare that he would speak to Adrien outside of their weekly scheduled ‘dinner conferences,’ as Gabriel called them.  
The group paused to watch Adrien as he accepted the call and put it on speakerphone so they could hear, “Hello Father. Why are you calling? This is rather unusual.”  
The jab clearly went unnoticed by Gabriel, “Nathalie just informed me you accused Mlle Rossi of sexual assault?”  
“Yes, but it was more mentioned than accused, I think. I figured with all the other celebrities suing Lila for defamation my accusation would fly under the radar. Clearly I was wrong.”  
“What?” Gabriel sounded confused for a moment before his voice came through again, “You can not publicly accuse someone! It will bring to much-unwanted publicity to this situation. You will retract your statement immediately. We can have Mlle Rossi fired for her behavior, but we must handle this discreetly so we aren’t caught up in this mess.”  
The whole table was taken back, Luka grabbed Adrien’s hand in a show of silent support. As unlikely as it sounded, Adrien had still hoped that his father would take his side in this debacle. Not claim neutrality in a mess he had a hand in.  
“Father,” Adrien began trying to stay calm, “I will not retract my statement.”  
A quiet, “Adrien” was heard in the other line.  
“This is not something I can or will stay silent on Father. Even if Lila hadn’t clung on to me like I was some prize, I still would be a part of this because of my friends. Lila bullied Marinette, a good friend of mine and I will stand by her side. Whether you like it or not.”  
Silence reigned at the table, Gabriel didn’t answer for a few moments, most likely due to shock. Marinette put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder as Luka pulled him closer.  
“I am disappointed in you Adrien,” finally came out of the speaker, “this will make things more complicated. But,” he paused, “your mother would not have stayed silent if something like this happened to her either.” Gabriel hung up.

After a minute Chloe spoke up, “Admitting defeat, I never thought I’d see the day.”  
Her lighthearted comment helped lessen the mood at the table as they all laughed and continued their meal. Emotions would come later, right now it was time for them to cram in as much food as physically possible before they had to return to class.

\-------------------------------

The last half of the school day was tense, Lila and Alya didn’t return to class and no one wanted to bring up the elephant in the room. Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe’s classmates tried to ignore them as they had been doing with Marinette and Chloe before while simultaneously sending them guilty looks. As if that would make things better.  
Everyone was relieved as school ended and they could escape from the classroom.

\--------------------------

A couple hours later the gang had reconvened at the Dupain-Cheng Bakery for a sleepover in Marinette’s room. It was arguably the coolest, with the loft and balcony, and cozy without being too cramped, unlike Luka’s.

Their evening had only been interrupted once with an Akuma of a kid that thought everyone forgot their birthday, only to find out after the Akuma was cleansed that their family had planned a surprise party. All of them had laughed a bit when they got back, with Plagg full-on cackling next to Tikki and the other kwamis.

“Today was okay.” Luka was sitting on the floor strumming his guitar, with Adrien behind him on the chaise.  
“A little dramatic,” Kagami chimed in from her spot next to Adrien where she was braiding Marinette’s hair, she had been learning recently and had been getting quite good.  
Marinette hummed, “We need a little drama in our lives, they’d be too dull otherwise.”  
“Yes,” Chloe commented sarcastically from Marinette’s office chair that she was spinning on. “Because our lives are so boring, nothing ever happens in them.” She deadpanned at Marinette who shrugged.  
“It’s not over yet,” Adrien added ominously, “there are still trials to overcome.” He sat with a shit-eating grin until Marinette smacked his arm. “Ow Mari, why?”  
“No puns,” she told him fiercely. She didn’t look very fierce with braids sticking up in her hair, but her friends all knew she was very good at yeeting teammates across Paris.  
Chloe scooted closer to Adrien, “Have you been watching your stupid anime again? You always get so dramatic afterward.”  
Adrien put a hand to his chest looking as offended as possible, “How dare. I show you a show once,” he looked around for a moment before muttering, “I’ll show you dramatic,” and lunging for the closest pillow and hitting Chloe with it.  
That started a pillow war that would last for hours before they all collapsed together on the floor to watch movies on Marinette’s laptop.


	3. Not a chapter

Send me prompts and if I have enough time I’ll write a little story.

Aka: I’m bored help


End file.
